Local index theory over foliation groupoids

We give a local proof of an index theorem for a Dirac-type operator that is invariant with respect to the action of a foliation groupoid G. If M denotes the space of units of G then the input is a G-equivariant fiber bundle P→M along with a G-invariant fiberwise Dirac-type operator D on P. The index theorem is a formula for the pairing of the index of D, as an element of a certain K-theory group, with a closed graded trace on a certain noncommutative de Rham algebra Ω^*B associated to G. The proof is by means of superconnections in the framework of noncommutative geometry.     

Index Theorem for Equivariant Dirac Operators on Noncompact Manifolds

Let D be a (generalized) Dirac operator on a noncompact complete Riemannian manifold M acted on by a compact Lie group G. Let v: M g = Lie G be an equivariant map, such that the corresponding vector field on M does not vanish outside of a compact subset. These data define an element of K-theory of the transversal cotangent bundle to M. Hence, by embedding of M into a compact manifold, one can define a topological index of the pair (D,v) as an element of the completed ring of characters of G. We define an analytic index of (D,v) as an index space of certain deformation of D and we prove that the analytic and topological indexes coincide. As a main step of the proof, we show that index is an invariant of a certain class of cobordisms, similar to the one considered by Ginzburg, Guillemin and Karshon. In particular, this means that the topological index of Atiyah is also invariant under this class of noncompact cobordisms. As an application, we extend the Atiyah–Segal–Singer equivariant index theorem to our noncompact setting. In particular, we obtain a new proof of this theorem for compact manifolds.     

Generalized Thrackle Drawings of Non-bipartite Graphs

A graph drawing is called a generalized thrackle if every pair of edges meets an odd number of times. In a previous paper, we showed that a bipartite graph G can be drawn as a generalized thrackle on an oriented closed surface M if and only if G can be embedded in M. In this paper, we use Lins’ notion of a parity embedding and show that a non-bipartite graph can be drawn as a generalized thrackle on an oriented closed surface M if and only if there is a parity embedding of G in a closed non-orientable surface of Euler characteristic χ(M)−1. As a corollary, we prove a sharp upper bound for the number of edges of a simple generalized thrackle.     

Unramified cohomology of degree 3 and Noether’s problem

Let G be a finite group and W be a faithful representation of G over C. The group G acts on the field of rational functions C(W). The question whether the field of invariant functions C(W) ^G is purely transcendental over C goes back to Emmy Noether. Using the unramified cohomology group of degree 2 of this field as an invariant, Saltman gave the first examples for which C(W) ^G is not rational over C. Around 1986, Bogomolov gave a formula which expresses this cohomology group in terms of the cohomology of the group G. In this paper, we prove a formula for the prime to 2 part of the unramified cohomology group of degree 3 of C(W) ^G . Specializing to the case where G is a central extension of an F _p -vector space by another, we get a method to construct nontrivial elements in this unramified cohomology group. In this way we get an example of a group G for which the field C(W) ^G is not rational although its unramified cohomology group of degree 2 is trivial. Dedicated to Jean-Louis Colliot-Thélène.     

Real Hypersurfaces in Complex Two-Plane Grassmannians

 The complex two-plane Grassmannian G ₂(C ^m+2 in equipped with both a K?hler and a quaternionic K?hler structure. By applying these two structures to the normal bundle of a real hypersurface M in G ₂(C ^m+2 one gets a one- and a three-dimensional distribution on M. We classify all real hypersurfaces M in G ₂ C ^m+2 , m≥3, for which these two distributions are invariant under the shape operator of M. Received 13 November 1996; in revised form 3 March 1997     

Finite Abelian actions on surfaces

Edmonds showed that two free orientation preserving smooth actions φ₁ and φ₂ of a finite Abelian group G on a closed connected oriented smooth surface M are equivalent by an equivariant orientation preserving diffeomorphism iff they have the same bordism class [M,φ₁]=[M,φ₂] in the oriented bordism group Ω₂(G) of the group G. In this paper, we compute the bordism class [M,φ] for any such action of G on M and we determine for a given M, the bordism classes in Ω₂(G) that are representable by such actions of G on M. This will enable us to obtain a formula for the number of inequivalent such actions of G on M. We also determine the “weak” equivalence classes of such actions of G on M when all the p-Sylow subgroups of G are homocyclic (i.e. of the form n(Z/pαZ)).     

Equivariant Reduction to Torus of a Principal Bundle

Let M be an irreducible projective variety, over an algebraically closed field k of characteristic zero, equipped with an action of a connected algebraic group S over k. Let E _G be a principal G-bundle over M equipped with a lift of the action of S on M, where G is a connected reductive linear algebraic group. Assume that E _G admits a reduction of structure group to a maximal torus TG. We give a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of a T-reduction of E _G which is left invariant by the action of S on E _G .     

On existence of invariant measures

Let G be a Lie group, H ≤ G a closed subgroup and M ≈ G/H. In [14] André Weil gave a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of invariant measures on homogeneous spaces of arbitrary locally compact groups. For Lie groups using the structure theory we give a neater necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of a G-invariant measure on M, cf. Theorems (2.1) and (3.2) in the introduction.     

On the triple points of singular maps

The number of triple points (mod 2) of a self-transverse immersion of a closed 2n-manifold M into 3n-space are known to equal one of the Stiefel-Whitney numbers of M. This result is generalized to the case of generic (i.e. stable) maps with singularities. Besides triple points and Stiefel-Whitney numbers, a certain linking number of the manifold of singular values with the rest of the image is involved in the generalized equation which corrects an erroneous formula in [9].? If n is even and the closed manifold is oriented then the equations mentioned above make sense over the integers. Together, the integer- and mod 2 generalized equations imply that a certain Stiefel-Whitney number of closed oriented 4k-manifolds vanishes. This Stiefel-Whitney number is in fact the first in a family which vanish on such manifolds. Received: October 12, 2001     

The Benson - Symonds Invariant for Permutation Modules

In a recent paper, Dave Benson and Peter Symonds defined a new invariant γ_G(M) for a finite dimensional module M of a finite group G which attempts to quantify how close a module is to being projective. In this paper, we determine this invariant for permutation modules of the symmetric group corresponding to two-part partitions using tools from representation theory and combinatorics.

     

The Rost invariant has trivial kernel for quasi-split groups of low rank

For G a simple simply connected algebraic group defined over a field F, Rost has shown that there exists a canonical map . This includes the Arason invariant for quadratic forms and Rost's mod 3 invariant for exceptional Jordan algebras as special cases. We show that R _G has trivial kernel if G is quasi-split of type E ₆ or E ₇. A case-by-case analysis shows that it has trivial kernel whenever G is quasi-split of low rank. Received: November 1, 2000     

Central extensions of current groups

 In this paper we study central extensions of the identity component G of the Lie group C ^∞ (M,K) of smooth maps from a compact manifold M into a Lie group K which might be infinite-dimensional. We restrict our attention to Lie algebra cocycles of the form ω(ξ,η)=[κ(ξ,dη)], where κ:𝔨×𝔨→Y is a symmetric invariant bilinear map on the Lie algebra 𝔨 of K and the values of ω lie in Ω¹(M,Y)/dC ^∞ (M,Y). For such cocycles we show that a corresponding central Lie group extension exists if and only if this is the case for M=𝕊¹. If K is finite-dimensional semisimple, this implies the existence of a universal central Lie group extension of G. The groups Diff(M) and C ^∞ (M,K) act naturally on G by automorphisms. We also show that these smooth actions can be lifted to smooth actions on the central extension if it also is a central extension of the universal covering group G˜ of G. Received: 11 April 2002 / Revised version: 28 August 2002 / Published online: 28 March 2003     

Heat kernel estimates and Riesz transforms on some Riemannian covering manifolds

Consider a Riemannian manifold M which is a Galois covering of a compact manifold, with nilpotent deck transformation group G. For the Laplace operator on M, we prove a precise estimate for the gradient of the heat kernel, and show that the Riesz transforms are bounded in L^p(M), 1 < p < . We also obtain estimates for discrete oscillations of the heat kernel, and boundedness of discrete Riesz transform operators, which are defined using the action of G on M.Mathematics Subject Classification (2000): 58J35, 35B65, 42B20in final form: 8 August 2003     

Eigenvalues of Finite Projective Planes with an Abelian Cartesian Group

Let M be an incidence matrix for a projective plane of order n. The eigenvalues of M are calculated in the Desarguesian case and a standard form for M is obtained under the hypothesis that the plane admits a (P,L)-transitivity G, |G| = n. The study of M is reduced to a principal submatrix A which is an incidence matrix for n ² lines of an associated affine plane. In this case, A is a generalized Hadamard matrix of order n for the Cayley permutation representation R(G). Under these conditions it is shown that G is a 2-group and n = 2^r when the eigenvalues of A are real. If G is abelian, the characteristic polynomial |xI – A| is the product of the n polynomials |x – (A)|, a linear character of G. This formula is used to prove n is a prime power under natural conditions on A and spectrum(A). It is conjectured that |xI – A| x ⁿ² mod p for each prime divisor p of n and the truth of the conjecture is shown to imply n = |G| is a prime power.     

The Eta-Invariant and Pontryagin Duality in K-Theory

The topological significance of the spectral Atiyah--Patodi--Singer -invariant is investigated. We show that twice the fractional part of the invariant is computed by the linking pairing in K-theory with the orientation bundle of the manifold. Pontryagin duality implies the nondegeneracy of the linking form. An example of a nontrivial fractional part for an even-order operator is presented.     

Persistence of freeness for Lie pseudogroup actions

The action of a Lie pseudogroup G\mathcal{G} on a smooth manifold M induces a prolonged pseudogroup action on the jet spaces J ⁿ of submanifolds of M. We prove in this paper that both the local and global freeness of the action of G\mathcal{G} on J ⁿ persist under prolongation in the jet order n. Our results underlie the construction of complete moving frames and, indirectly, their applications in the identification and analysis of the various invariant objects for the prolonged pseudogroup actions.     

A Note on the Infimum of Energy of Unit Vector Fields on a Compact Riemannian Manifold

Our main result in this paper establishes that if G is a compact Lie subgroup of the isometry group of a compact Riemannian manifold M acting with cohomogeneity one in M and either G has no singular orbits or the singular orbits of G have dimension at most n−3, then the unit vector field N orthogonal to the principal orbits of G is weakly smooth and is a critical point of the energy functional acting on the unit normal vector fields of M. A formula for the energy of N in terms of the of integral of the Ricci curvature of M and of the integral of the square of the mean curvature of the principal orbits of G is obtained as well. In the case that M is the sphere and G the orthogonal group it is known that that N is minimizer. It is an open question if N is a minimizer in general.     

A Distributive Lattice on the Set of Perfect Matchings of a Plane Bipartite Graph

Let G be a plane bipartite graph and M(G) the set of perfect matchings of G. The Z-transformation graph of G is defined as a graph on M(G): M,MM(G) are joined by an edge if and only if they differ only in one cycle that is the boundary of an inner face of G. A property that a certain orientation of the Z-transformation graph of G is acyclic implies a partially ordered relation on M(G). An equivalent definition of the poset M(G) is discussed in detail. If G is elementary, the following main results are obtained in this article: the poset M(G) is a finite distributive lattice, and its Hasse diagram is isomorphic to the Z-transformation digraph of G. Further, a distributive lattice structure is established on the set of perfect matchings of any plane bipartite graph.     

Acyclic and oriented chromatic numbers of graphs

The oriented chromatic number χ_o(G ^→) of an oriented graph G ^→ = (V, A) is the minimum number of vertices in an oriented graph H ^→ for which there exists a homomorphism of G ^→ to H ^→. The oriented chromatic number χ_o(G) of an undirected graph G is the maximum of the oriented chromatic numbers of all the orientations of G. This paper discusses the relations between the oriented chromatic number and the acyclic chromatic number and some other parameters of a graph. We shall give a lower bound for χ_o(G) in terms of χ_a(G). An upper bound for χ_o(G) in terms of χ_a(G) was given by Raspaud and Sopena. We also give an upper bound for χ_o(G) in terms of the maximum degree of G. We shall show that this upper bound is not far from being optimal. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Finite isometry groups of 4-manifolds with positive sectional curvature

Let M be an oriented compact Riemannian 4-manifold with positive sectional curvature. Let G be a finite subgroup of the isometry group of M. We prove that, if G is a finite group of order , then